| 1 | 1 | | By: Zerwas H.B. No. 2483 |
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| 2 | 2 | | |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 5 | 5 | | AN ACT |
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| 6 | 6 | | relating to a maximum tuition rate under a fixed tuition price plan. |
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| 7 | 7 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 8 | 8 | | SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 54, Education Code, is |
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| 9 | 9 | | amended by adding Section 54.017(h), to read as follows: |
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| 10 | 10 | | Sec. 54.017. FIXED TUITION PRICE PLAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE |
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| 11 | 11 | | STUDENTS AT CERTAIN GENERAL ACADEMIC TEACHING INSTITUTIONS. (a) |
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| 12 | 12 | | In this section, "general academic teaching institution" and |
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| 13 | 13 | | "public state college" have the meanings assigned by Section |
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| 14 | 14 | | 61.003. |
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| 15 | 15 | | (b) This section applies only to a general academic teaching |
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| 16 | 16 | | institution other than a public state college. |
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| 17 | 17 | | (c) The governing board of an institution to which this |
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| 18 | 18 | | section applies shall offer entering undergraduate students, |
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| 19 | 19 | | including undergraduate students who transfer to the institution, |
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| 20 | 20 | | the opportunity to participate in a fixed tuition price plan under |
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| 21 | 21 | | which the institution agrees not to increase tuition charges per |
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| 22 | 22 | | semester credit hour for a participating student for at least the |
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| 23 | 23 | | first 12 consecutive semesters that occur after the date of the |
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| 24 | 24 | | student's initial enrollment at any public or private institution |
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| 25 | 25 | | of higher education, regardless of whether the student enrolls at |
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| 26 | 26 | | any institution in those semesters, and subject to any restrictions |
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| 27 | 27 | | or qualifications adopted by the governing board. For purposes of |
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| 28 | 28 | | this section, one or more summer terms occurring in the same summer |
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| 29 | 29 | | is considered a semester. |
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| 30 | 30 | | (d) Unless the institution does not offer other tuition |
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| 31 | 31 | | payment options, an institution to which this section applies may |
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| 32 | 32 | | require an entering undergraduate student to accept or reject |
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| 33 | 33 | | participation in the fixed tuition price plan offered under this |
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| 34 | 34 | | section before the date of the student's initial enrollment at the |
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| 35 | 35 | | institution. |
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| 36 | 36 | | (e) This section does not require an institution to which |
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| 37 | 37 | | this section applies to offer a variable tuition price plan or other |
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| 38 | 38 | | tuition payment options to undergraduate students enrolled in the |
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| 39 | 39 | | institution. |
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| 40 | 40 | | (f) Fees charged by an institution to a student |
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| 41 | 41 | | participating in a fixed tuition price plan under this section may |
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| 42 | 42 | | not exceed the fees charged by the institution to a similarly |
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| 43 | 43 | | situated student who elects not to participate in the plan, if the |
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| 44 | 44 | | institution offers other tuition payment options. For purposes of |
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| 45 | 45 | | this subsection, students are similarly situated if they share the |
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| 46 | 46 | | same residency status, degree program, course load, course level, |
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| 47 | 47 | | and other circumstances affecting the fees charged to the students. |
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| 48 | 48 | | (g) This section does not apply to the tuition charged by an |
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| 49 | 49 | | institution to which this section applies to a student who enters |
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| 50 | 50 | | the institution for the first time before the 2014 fall semester. |
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| 51 | 51 | | (h) The fixed tuition price plan under subsection (c) of an |
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| 52 | 52 | | institution not offering other tuition payment options may include |
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| 53 | 53 | | a maximum tuition rate. Notwithstanding subsection (c), the |
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| 54 | 54 | | institution’s tuition charges may vary between semesters during |
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| 55 | 55 | | the period covered by the fixed tuition price plan, but the |
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| 56 | 56 | | institution’s tuition charges may not exceed the established |
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| 57 | 57 | | maximum tuition rate. |
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| 58 | 58 | | SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |
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